As I mentioned earlier this week on my show, the Department of Homeland Security is poised to start a months-long campaign of flooding Boston’s subway systems with bacteria in order to test their biological weapons detecting systems.  All in the name of fighting terrorism…   Who cares if a few people get sick or die?  They were unhealthy anyway…  right?

They claim that these tests pose no health risks to healthy individuals (the operative term being “healthy”).  When asked of the possible repercussions to people with compromised immune systems, they chose not to answer.

This entire operation is unnecessary!  I’m sure the government has facilities where they could sufficiently test this equipment without putting a single person at risk.  The fact that DHS is willing to roll the dice on the health of even one American citizen is despicable!  Nevermind the fact that the only terrorist plots that have been “foiled” in the United States have been set up by the FBI just so they could catch them.  Either that, or it turns out that the would-be “perpetrator” is in some way affiliated with the CIA, like the “Underwear Bomber II”.  

The following from: offgridsurvival.com

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has announced a series of biological tests that they will be conducting in subway systems near Boston. DHS will be releasing bacteria into the MBTA tunnels, in what they say are tests to evaluate sensors installed in the tunnel system.

The DHS sensors are designed to detect biological agents. The testing is expected to go on for at least one year, with multiple bacteria releases every month.

DHS officials insist that the bacteria release, a dead bacteria called B-subtilis, will have no adverse health risks on healthy individuals.  What this means for people with compromised immune systems isn’t known, DHS hasn’t publicly commented on that.B-subtilis is a Gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium commonly found in soil. Although DHS insists that are no health risks, the EPA fact sheet does show some negative health effects associated with this bacteria.

B. subtilis does produce an extracellular toxin known as subtilisin. Although subtilisin has very low toxigenic properties (Gill, 1982), this proteinaceous compound is capable of causing allergic reactions in individuals who are repeatedly exposed to it.

B. subtilis has also been implicated in several cases of food poisoning (Gilbert et al., 1981 and Kramer et al., 1982 as cited by Logan, 1988).

It goes on to say that in those with compromised immune systems:

Infections attributed to B. subtilis include bacteremia, endocarditis, pneumonia, and septicemia.

According to DHS,(their documents can be seen on the DHS website here)

Several subway systems across the country were considered to host the proposed pilot test. Preliminary discussions were held with a few subway systems, and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) was considered to be an optimal location due to the extensive chemical simulant studies that were recently performed there.

A short while back, I reported on the lawsuit that was brought against the Department of Homeland Surveillance which uncovered the truth behind the Department’s training of analysts to track down dissenters and government critics on the internet.

Before that I reported about the 25 flyers that the FBI circulated to various industries, (including prepper and survival related businesses) and the pressures placed on food storage retailers to collect and turn over information about their customers to the DHS.

Now I’ve just learned that the FBI and DHS have been caught spying on survival and prepper websites, rerouting their visitors for the purpose of putting a long-lived cookie in their browser to track their online actions.

James Wesley, Rawles was tipped off that the government had been tracking users to his popular website: SurvivalBlog.com. Some web forensics work revealed that 4906 visitors ended up getting redirected through FBI servers.

It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers. (Note that this happened several months before we moved our primary server to Sweden.) Furthermore, we discovered that the FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed them to track the sites that readers subsequently visited. I suspect that the FBI has done the same to hundreds of other web sites. I find this situation totally abhorrent, and contrary to the letter of 4th Amendment as well as the intent of our Founding Fathers.

I recognize that I am making this announcement at the risk of losing some readers. So be it. But I felt compelled to tell my readers immediately, because it was the honorable and forthright course of action.

 

After the announcement was made, many survival and prepper site owners discovered that they too had been monitored by Homeland Security.

Welcome to 1984… Would the last person who still believes that we’re not living in a surveillance state please turn the lights off before you go?

We all know that Big Sister Napolitano and the Gestapo of Homeland Security are going through our emails, checking our internet searches and monitoring blogs, forums and social media sites in an attempt to chase down the dangerous terrorist threats lurking everywhere around us. 

In the latest disclosure of how the federal government is monitoring the internet, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has posted the 2011 Department of Homeland Security manual that includes hundreds of keywords and search terms used to detect possible terrorism. And it wasn’t easy wresting it from Big Janet’s grip, either. The privacy watchdog group had to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and launched a subsequent lawsuit against the DHS to obtain the release of the documents. 

The 39-page “Analyst’s Desktop Binder” used by the department’s National Operations Center includes a lot of the keywords you’d expect, like; “jihad”, “al Qaeda” and “suicide bomber”, etc. But you would be amazed at the spectrum of ambiguous and/or innocuous keywords that could get you some unwanted attention from Big Sis the next time you tweet or post on Facebook. 

For example; if you’ve posted about a trip you took to “Tucson”, “San Diego” or (god forbid) “Mexico”, that could send up a red flag. Better not mention that there were flight “delays” at the “airport”, or talk about how your flight was “canceled”. 

If you’ve complained about how the high price of “gas” has forced you to take the “subway” to work, that could get you singled out as well. 

Apparently, terrorists are responsible for bad weather and natural disasters too. So if there was a “snow storm” or “blizzard” with “ice” “sleet” and “hail” in your area that caused a “power” or “electrical” “outage” and school “closures”, you better keep it to yourself. Don’t tell anyone if there’s an “earthquake”, “tornado” or “flood” either. 

Heck, in all my preparedness and survival writing, I use about a third of the words on the DHS list multiple times every day.  Between that and the fact that I make no secret of my dissent and disdain of DHS’s draconian Stassi tactics,  I wonder how many lists I’m on?  

These terms and others are “broad, vague and ambiguous” and include “vast amounts of First Amendment protected speech that is entirely unrelated to the Department of Homeland Security mission to protect the public against terrorism and disasters,” stated the Electronic Privacy Information Center in letter to the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. 

EPIC released the manual a week after Homeland Security officials were grilled at a House hearing over other documents obtained through the FOIA lawsuit that revealed DHS had instructed analysts to scrutinize online comments that “reflect adversely” on the federal government. 

Of course, DHS denies that they’re hunting down dissenters and citizens who criticize the government. Mary Ellen Callahan, the chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland Security, and Richard Chavez, director for the National Operations Center, testified that the released documents were outdated and that social media was monitored strictly to provide situational awareness and not to police disparaging opinions about the federal government. 

That was their story and they stuck to it… all throughout the hearing. 

EPIC has sent a letter to Congress revealing new evidence indicating that contrary to DHS testimony, the monitoring program does indeed deliberately target dissenters and government critics, and calls for suspension of the program. 

EPIC has submitted a letter to Congress following a hearing on DHS monitoring of social networks and media organizations. In the letter, EPIC highlights new documents obtained as a result of a FOIA lawsuit and points out to inconsistencies in DHS’ testimony about the program. Though DHS testified that it does not monitor for public reaction to government proposals, the documents obtained by EPIC indicate that the DHS analysts are specifically instructed to look for criticism of the agency and then to redirect reports that would otherwise be circulated to other agencies. EPIC wrote that the DHS’ monitoring program should be suspended, as it exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and chills First Amendment activity. For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. DHS: Media Monitoring. 

To read the letter CLICK HERE 

To Read the DHS manual CLICK HERE

The Stasi DHS regime continues to target preppers and people who purchase survival supplies. To date, the FBI and the Dept. of Justice have produced 25 fliers aimed at, and distributed to various industries to promote the reporting of “suspicious activity”. From gun dealers and military surplus stores, to hobby and coffee shops (did you know that paying for your latte with cash means you might be a terrorist?).

The federal government is going completely overboard and is now encouraging the public to report fellow Americans for engaging in the most routine, mundane behavior. 

For example; every day we’re warned to protect ourselves against identity theft, but according to these fliers, if you actually take steps to protect your identity by refusing to give out any unnecessary personal information, they label you a terrorist. (on almost all of these government fliers, one of the behaviors they warn to watch out for is: “demanding identity privacy”).

These days, it seems like more and more stores want to get your name, email address, physical address and phone number every time you make a purchase. Well, forgive me, but when I buy something at a store and they start asking for that information, I always politely say: “I’d rather not”. Not because I think they’re trying to steal my identity, but partly because I don’t need to help them send me more junk mail (electronic or otherwise) and mostly because IT’S NONE OF THEIR DAMN BUSINESS!

If I don’t want Sears or Radio Shack knowing where I live, that’s my prerogative as a FREE AMERICAN. It doesn’t mean I have something to hide and it certainly doesn’t make me terrorist.

Now they’re focusing on stores that sell bulk foods. Advising these businesses to demand that their customers show ID and report those who pay with cash, buy MREs, or make “unusually large” purchases…

Whatever that means.

I mean, really, who buys small quantities at a bulk food store? Isn’t buying large quantities the whole point? 

That’s like the flier that was distributed to hobby shops, warning to watch out for people who show an “unusual” amount of interest in radio-controlled airplanes. Then, further down the list, they claim that showing no interest in the hobby is also a sign of suspicious behavior. 

So for the love of Pete, if you’re all jazzed about RC airplanes, try to contain your enthusiasm! But if you couldn’t care less, you should at least try to feign a little interest. 

Oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot… The flier also lists: “Demonstrating interest that does not seem genuine” as suspicious too… 

Ok…  Better just to stay away from RC airplanes altogether…

I think model trains are still a “safe” hobby… That is, until Homeland Security gets to thinking that someone might use a Lionel H-Scale to deliver an H-bomb. Maybe they should have added: “Buying an excessive amount of model train track” to their list of questionable activities. 

However…. I digress. 

While it may be entertaining to point out the asinine nature of some of these warnings, it’s also deeply troubling that we are being told to spy and drop a dime on our neighbors. I was going to go off on a tirade about all the legitimate reasons that people have for storing food, or the fact that I can’t think of a single reason why it would even come close to qualifying as “suspicious terrorist behavior”.  Not to mention what an utter contradiction it is that the Dept. of Homeland Security labels it as such, considering that both FEMA and DHS have actually encouraged Americans to store food for emergencies in the past. But I don’t think y’all need to have that spelled out for you. 

What apparently does need to be spelled out for some people is how infuriatingly repugnant this is to a free society, and what an insidious danger this represents. 

To quote that old axiom: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. So if you’re among those who think: “As long as you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about”, let me remind you that back in the ’30s, a lot of folks in Germany said the same thing when they were told to spy on their neighbors… 

Until they got hauled off on a train, that is. 

And if you’re thinking: “That could never happen in America!”, I know some Japanese-Americans who would beg to correct you. 

You know, my grandparents canned and stored “large quantities” of food too… I wonder if ol’ Grandma and Grandpa were secret Islamic terrorists? Elderly Al-Qaeda? Geriatric Jihadists? 

Or maybe…  Just maybe, they were simply PRUDENT, SENSIBLE AMERICANS. 

Click here to view all 25 “Suspicious Activity” fliers.